Indian Islamic Architecture

The British scholar John Burton-Page contributed numerous formative articles on Indian Islamic architecture for the Encyclopaedia of Islam over a period of 25 years. Assembled here for the first time, these offer an insightful overview of the subject, ranging from the earliest mosques and tombs erected by the Delhi sultans in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, to the great monuments of the Mughal emperors dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. The articles cover the principal forms of Indian Islamic architecture -- mosques, tombs, minarets, forts, gateways and water structures -- as well as the most important sites and their monuments. Unsurpassed for their compression of information, these succinct articles serve as the best possible introduction to the subject, indispensible for both students and travellers. The articles are supplemented by a portfolio of photographs especially selected for the volume, as well as a glossary and up to date bibliography

An architectural description and analysis of the early Western Calukyan temples.

The limitations of this study are evident from the title. Only the architectural monuments of the Early Western Calukyas are here considered and those structures which date from earlier or later periods at the Western Calukyan sites together with the rock-cut monuments do not form part of the study. The sculptural and decorated portions of the buildings are only briefly referred to, and comparisons with the architecture of contemporary dynasties will not be attempted. Such severe limitations have been imposed so as to permit a thorough architectural description and analysis of what is the largest earliest group of temples known in India from this period. Such a study takes its starting point from a thorough documentation comprising a set of measured drawings and accompanying detailed descriptions. In comparing the buildings, it has been found necessary to divide them into a number of component features. These features are then individually compared, and the variations within each noted. The resulting observations are assembled, so that certain temples may be associated together by the similarity of their features. The few dated monuments may suggest the possibility of a tentative chronology, but such conclusions are not the main objective of this study

General Relativity effects and line emission

General Relativity effects (gravitational redshift, light bending, ...) strongly modify the characteristics of the lines emitted close to the Black Hole in Active Galactic Nuclei and Galactic Black Hole systems. These effects are reviewed and illustrated, with particular emphasis on line emission from the accretion disc. Methods, based on the iron line, to measure the two astrophysically relevant parameters of a Black Hole, the mass and spin, are briefly discussed.Comment: to appear in Astronomische Nachrichten, Proceedings of the ESAC Workshop "Variable and broad lines around black holes

Measuring reader fatigue in the interpretation of screening digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT)

Objectives:The interpretation of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) screening examinations is a complex task for an already overstretched workforce which has the potential to increase pressure on readers leading to fatigue and patient safety issues. Studies in non-medical and medical settings have suggested that changes in blink characteristics can reflect fatigue. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of blink characteristics as an objective marker of fatigue in readers interpreting DBT breast screening examinations.Methods:Twenty-six DBT readers involved in the UK PROSPECTS trial interpreted a test set of 40 DBT cases while being observed by an eye tracking device from November 2019 to February 2021. Raw data from the eye tracker were collected and automated processing software was used to produce eye blinking characteristics data which were analysed using multiple linear regression statistical models.Results:Of the 26 DBT readers recruited, eye tracking data from 23 participants were analysed due to missing data rendering 3 participants’ data uninterpretable. The mean reading time per DBT case was 2.81 min. There was a statistically significant increase in blinking duration of 0.38 ms/case as the reading session progressed (p < 0.0001). This was the result of a significant decrease in the number of ultra-short blinks lasting ≤50 ms (p = 0.0005) and a significant increase in longer blinks lasting 51–100 ms (p = 0.008).ConclusionChanges in blinking characteristics could serve as objective measures of reader fatigue and may prove useful in the development of DBT reading protocols.Advances in knowledge:Blink characteristics can be used as an objective measure of fatigue; however there is limited evidence of their use in radiological settings. Our study suggests that changes in blink duration and frequency could be used to monitor fatigue in DBT reading sessions

Being Tamil, being Hindu:Tamil migrants’ negotiations of the absence of Tamil Hindu spaces in the West Midlands and South West of England

This paper considers the religious practices of Tamil Hindus who have settled in the West Midlands and South West of England in order to explore how devotees of a specific ethno-regional Hindu tradition with a well-established UK infrastructure in the site of its adherents’ population density adapt their religious practices in settlement areas which lack this infrastructure. Unlike the majority of the UK Tamil population who live in the London area, the participants in this study did not have ready access to an ethno-religious infrastructure of Tamil-orientated temples and public rituals. The paper examines two means by which this absence was addressed as well as the intersections and negotiations of religion and ethnicity these entailed: firstly, Tamil Hindus’ attendance of temples in their local area which are orientated towards a broadly imagined Hindu constituency or which cater to a non-Tamil ethno-linguistic or sectarian community; and, secondly, through the ‘DIY’ performance of ethnicised Hindu ritual in non-institutional settings

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity.

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Search for dijet resonances in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and constraints on dark matter and other models

Correction: DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.029Peer reviewe